


Affection

by PetitMinou



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: F/F, Pre-Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-02
Updated: 2016-05-02
Packaged: 2018-06-05 22:49:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,833
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6726547
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PetitMinou/pseuds/PetitMinou
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tumblr prompt:   Ayla & Marinette are just doing casual public affections of your choice(established relationship or not yet), and someone decides to be mean about it. Cue Adrien or Chat Noir to their defense & being very internally/externally pissed because who are they to judge love, especially one like theirs which is so pure and something you are so lucky to find?!</p>
            </blockquote>





	Affection

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote so much for Alyanette April but didn't get around to typing it up. I'm bad.

Marinette and Alya had always been open with their affections. Whether it was hands on shoulders, heads in laps, or full-on tackle-hugs, neither of them thought much of it. Or so Marinette had always assumed. She certainly didn’t. She and Alya had been close from the beginning, just _clicking_ the moment they first met. So it was only natural there was a lot of touching.

And Alya never seemed to mind. By the time they’d known each other for a year Marinette had come to depend on her friend’s physical comfort more than anything else.

So it was that the end of summer vacation found them set up in the park outside Marinette’s home, Marinette sprawled out on a bench with her head in Alya’s lap.

The aspiring journalist is enthusiastically describing the most recent Akuma attack, and Ladybug’s subsequent appearance. She’s using one hand to illustrate her points while the other cards through Marinette’s hair and gently massages her scalp.

Marinette honestly lost the thread of the conversation several sentences ago. She hums at appropriate intervals, eyes drifting shut. The Akuma just _had_ to attack at midnight, on the day her maman decided to start waking her up early for the coming school year. And Alya has such nice, soft fingers, and she stretches languidly into the contact.

Alya cuts off whatever she’s saying in a quiet laugh. “Girl, you’re not hearing a word I’m saying, are you?”

Marinette squints open one eye, purses her lips. “Maybe not?”

Alya laughs, the hand not still buried in her hair coming down to lightly pinch her chin. “You’re lucky you’re so adorable.”

“I know,” Marinette agrees amiably. Alya snorts and pinches her cheek, and she lets out a noise of protest. Turning her face into her friend’s stomach, she loops her arms around Alya’s waist, squeezes. “Alyaaa, why are you so mean to me?”

Her friend’s laugh shakes her whole body, including her thighs. Marinette grumbles her displeasure at the disturbance of her pillow and squeezes harder.

Whatever Alya’s about to say is interrupted by a loud laugh, and Marinette groans her recognition of the voice before the girl speaks.

“You two are so _gay_.”

Alya goes tense underneath her, and she reluctantly turns over to face their tormentor. “What was that, Chloe?”

The blond sniffs, studying her nails. “Nothing. Just that the two of you should be more subtle about your little affair.”

“You say that like it’s supposed to be an insult,” Marinette retorts calmly, closing her eyes again. She’d been so _close_ to falling asleep, and there’s nothing she wants more than to go back to her nap. “What’re you doing here, anyway?”

“Unlike you two lovers, _I’m_ waiting for a boy,” Chloe gloats, and Marinette sighs.

“Congratulations. Now go away.” She turns over and tries to get comfortable again, but Alya pushes her gently off her lap. And now that she thinks about it, the other girl hasn’t said anything since Chloe first showed up. She sits up to peek at her friend’s face—and comes instantly awake. “Alya, you okay?”

Alya’s jaw is clenched, two bright spots of color burning in her cheeks, and Marinette reaches out to nudge at her leg. “Alya?”

That seems to snap her out of it, and Alya gives herself a little shake. “Y-yeah. Sorry. I’m fine.”

“She’s just upset that I know about her perverted little crush.”

Marinette whips around, leveling a glare at their classmate. “Go _away_ , Chloe!”

She doesn’t wait to see if Chloe listens or not, turning back to see that Alya won’t meet her gaze. “Alya, you don’t think I’m listening to her, do you?”

That seems to make it worse, Alya actually turning her head to hide her expression, the normally talkative journalist still unnervingly silent.

“Told you.”

Marinette whirls and jumps to her feet in one motion, fists clenched and mouth open, but someone else beats her to it. “Chloe!”

Adrien is stalking towards them, something in his face and posture striking an odd sense of familiarity that Marinette has no time to examine. He completely ignores Chloe’s squeals, and actually brushes her off when she goes to hug him. Alya and Marinette exchange stunned looks, but he isn’t finished.

“That’s not something you can tease people about, Chloe.” His voice is low and rough with anger, and Marinette absently wonders if she’s ever going to retrieve her fallen jaw.

Chloe pouts and tries to loop her arms around his neck, and he swats her away. “Adrien! You know it’s true.”

Adrien’s hands ball into fists at his side. “It doesn’t matter if it’s true or not! Either way, what you were saying shouldn’t be an insult, and you were trying to use it as one. You can’t just say things without thinking about how hurtful they are!”

Chloe’s mouth is opening and shutting soundlessly as he finishes. “People can’t help who they fall in love with. And it’s hard enough without someone insulting them over it.”

She finally finds her voice, shooting a disgusted look towards the pair on the bench. “But they’re just—“

“Do _not_ finish that sentence.” Adrien’s voice goes cold and menacing, and even Chloe can take the hint. She sniffs and puts her nose in the air, stalking away as if it was her idea to leave in the first place.

Adrien lets out a long slow breath, shoulders slumping as if he can’t quite believe what he just did. He turns back to the girls he’d just been defending, and Marinette doesn’t quite manage to get her face under control in time. “Look, I’m sorry about her,” he mutters, looking even more concerned when she snaps her mouth shut and sputters incoherently.

“Don’t be,” Alya comes to her rescue, finally standing up. “It’s not your fault.”

Marinette swallows and nods her agreement.

Adrien looks after his friend, shakes his head, and raises a hand in a wave as he heads toward the nearest metro station. Marinette waves back too late, when he’s already turned the corner, and turns back to her friend.

Alya looks away again, digging her phone out of her pocket and tapping at it aimlessly. “Alya?”

She looks up, forces the fakest smile Marinette has ever seen. “What was that about? You never let Chloe get to you.”

“She didn’t get to me.” Alya is perhaps the worst liar in the world, and Marinette scowls at her. Her heart is in her throat, she’s intuitively guessing that this is a much more important conversation than it seemed at first.

Alya looks up and catches sight of her expression. “She didn’t!” Marinette crosses her arms, saying nothing, and she sighs. “Okay, she did. I don’t want to talk about it.”

She sinks down onto the bench, attention apparently locked irretrievably onto her phone.

Marinette cocks her head, watching the way her friend’s hands tremble. “Hey.” She sits down next to her, scoots over until their thighs are touching. “You know you can tell me anything.”

Alya lets out a short, harsh laugh. “Not this time, girl.”

Marinette can’t stifle her small, hurt noise, and Alya’s head snaps up. “No, no, it’s not your fault! It’s mine, okay?”

Marinette shrugs. “You’re upset. I just want to help.”

Alya meets her eyes for a split second, then looks away, mouth twisting. “Ugh, stop doing that thing with your face!”

Marinette blinks. “What thing?”

“That thing!” Alya snaps. “The thing where you look like I could tell you anything and you wouldn’t care!”

“Um…” Marinette is at a loss, unsure of the sudden pain in her friend’s voice, and she nudges Alya’s side with her elbow. “Alya, you know I love you no matter what, right?”

She can’t describe the noise Alya makes at that, somewhere between a snort and a groan, and Marinette stares at her in concern. She heaves a huge sigh, golden eyes flickering up to meet her friend’s gaze. “Even if Chloe’s right?”

Marinette shakes her head, uncomprehending. “Right about what?”

“That I have a…a bit of a crush on—“ Alya’s voice trails into a mutter at the end of her sentence, but the way she’s looking at her, terrified and hopeful at once, makes Marinette positive she knows what the last few words were.

“Oh,” she says quietly, looking down, trying to swallow around her heart, which seems to have taken up permanent residence just under her tonsils. “What about Nino?”

Alya lets out another harsh, pained sound. “There was never anything going on with Nino. You assumed there was after we got locked in that cage, but we just talked. I told you we had a lot in common.”

Marinette hums, trying to think back to that day. She was almost positive Alya had said something to confirm her assumption, but maybe she hadn’t…

The journalist goes to stand, and she automatically latches onto her plaid shirt. “Wait—“

Alya won’t look at her, but she doesn’t tug away. “It’s okay, Marinette, I didn’t ever expect—“

“No, wait!” Marinette yanks, sending her friend staggering back a step by accident. “Sorry, I—Alya, wait, let me—“

Finally she turns, brows furrowed with confusion, and she plows on. “I know I talk about Adrien a lot, because I do like him, but he’s not the only one I like! I didn’t want to say anything because you don’t tell people you think you like girls, do you? Everyone expects girls to have crushes on guys and I finally _did_ but you were there too and I was confused so I pretended I wasn’t because at least I can talk to you, I can’t even keep my words straight around Adrien so I didn’t want to lose what I have with you and I didn’t want to think about it but I think I kind of have a crush on you too.”

She’s short of breath by the time she finishes, panting slightly as she stares up at Alya, trying to gauge her friend’s reaction.

She blinks slowly, apparently processing the flood of words. A smile spreads across her face, and Marinette snatches her hand back. “Sorry,” she mumbles, and Alya lets out a delighted laugh.

“No, don’t be. Come here.”

Marinette stands, and is swept into a rib-creaking hug. She finally relaxes, arms coming up to return Alya’s embrace. “So we’re going to be okay?”

“Yeah,” Alya confirms, nodding against her shoulder. “Of course. We’re going to be fine.”

She turns her head, pressing a kiss to Marinette’s cheek, and the shorter girl flushes. She’s kissed Alya in greeting before, but this feels very much different.

Suddenly Alya bursts into giggles, and she makes a questioning sound. “I can’t believe I’m going to have to thank Chloe for something!”

Marinette snorts. “We both should. In a couple of weeks. Just thank her but not tell her for what.”

Alya pulls away just enough to meet her eyes, taps her forehead gently. “I like the way you think, girl.”


End file.
